National Park Service / Associated Press A helicopter rescued a stranded rafter from a flooded area along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon yesterday.

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PHOENIX – Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon created flooding that breached an earthen dam yesterday and forced helicopters to rescue scores of residents and campers from the gorge. No injuries were immediately reported.

TEMPERANCE FLAT – Ron Jacobsma shifts his boat into idle, stopping to float right where he wants to see another dam rise across the San Joaquin River. “We'll see it. I just don't know if I will see it in my lifetime,” mused Jacobsma, who oversees delivering water to nearly 1 million acres of farmland in the shadow of the Eastern Sierra.

WASHINGTON – Even as Russia pledged to begin withdrawing its forces from neighboring Georgia today, U.S. officials said the Russian military had been moving launchers for short-range ballistic missiles into South Ossetia, a step that appeared intended to tighten its hold on the breakaway territory at the heart of the 10-day-old conflict.

GUSTINE – The lead man for the “Turlock Suicide Squad,” wearing a green knit cap and a tight toreador-style suit, put his hands on his hips and strutted toward the bull, daring him to charge.

WASHINGTON – Nearly a century after history's most lethal flu faded away, survivors' bloodstreams still carry super-potent protection against the 1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune system.